Trump Mideast Trip Marks a Shift from Obama

By Ambassador Dennis Ross

Ambassador Dennis Ross is counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Prior to returning to the Institute in 2011, he served two years as special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also served as special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, and as director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration.

President Donald Trump heads to The Vatican and Brussels on Wednesday, after wrapping up a trip to the Middle East, which started in Saudi Arabia and ended in Israel. The President delivered a speech on his vision for U.S.-Muslim relations in Riyadh, before heading to Jerusalem. There, he pledged to get Arab-Israeli talks back on track, after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. So, what was President Trump’s message? And was the Middle East trip a success? The Cipher Brief’s Leone Lakhani asked Ambassador Dennis Ross, Counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior Middle East adviser to three U.S. presidents.

The Cipher Brief: What would you say was the mission of President Trump’s trip to the Middle East, and did he succeed? His first stop was Saudi Arabia. Was that an attempt to reset relations with the traditional Arab allies? Why is that important?

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